Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (video game)

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Box art
Names
EnglishYu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Development
PlatformGame Boy
LanguagesJapanese
DeveloperKonami
PublisherKonami
Release dates
JapaneseDecember 16, 1998[1]
Series
SeriesDuel Monsters
NextDuel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories
Links

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is the second Yu-Gi-Oh! video game, following Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle. It is the first game in the Duel Monsters series, followed by Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories, and the only game released for the Game Boy.

This game predates the OCG by two months, and many cards seen here soon made appearances in the earliest OCG sets. It was published in Japan by Konami on December 16, 1998;[1] while a few (non-Yu-Gi-Oh!-related) games would be released for the handheld over the next four years, Duel Monsters was one of the last games published for the original Game Boy.

Cards[edit]

Thirteen of the secret cards, which Takahashi designed for the game (the missing secret cards are #356: "Super War-lion" and #357: "Yamadron")

Duel Monsters features 365 cards. These consist of:

Game options[edit]

The title screen and main menu

The following options are available at the main menu:

  • Campaign (キャンペーン Kyanpēn): the game's story mode. Face AI opponents.
  • Versus (たいせん Taisen): battle other players, using the Game Link Cable.
  • Trade (トレード Torēdo): trade with other players via the Game Link Cable.
  • Records (せいせき Seiseki): statistics and other information about the player.

There is also a password menu, which is only accessible by entering a secret code at the main menu.

Campaign[edit]

Duel Monsters is set during the Duelist Kingdom arc of the manga.

  • The first stage is "In the Ship" (ふねなか Fune no Naka).[2] It takes place on the Duelist Kingdom ship.
  • The second stage is "Duel Kingdom" (デュエル王国キングダム Dyueru Kingudamu).[2] It is set on the Duelist Kingdom island.
  • The third stage is "Simon Muran" (シモン・ムーラン Shimon Mūran), a stage unrelated to the manga arc, featuring a character who debuts in this game.
  • The final boss stage is "Maximillion Pegasus", known as "Pegasus J. Crawford" (ペガサス・ジェー・クロフォード Pegasasu Jē Kurofōdo) in Japan.
  • The dark stage is "Yami Yugi", known as "Dark Yugi" (やみゆう Yami Yūgi) in Japan.

The player must defeat each character in a stage five times to advance to the next stage. A character that has been defeated five times can be Dueled additional times for more cards. Defeating Maximillion Pegasus five times causes the ending credits to roll. After that an additional Dark Stage appears, with Yami Yugi as an opponent.

A total of sixteen opponents are featured in Duel Monsters: four in Stage 1, nine in Stage 2, and one each in the last three stages.

Stage Opponents

Versus[edit]

Players can battle other players, who have the same game, using the Game Link Cable via the Versus menu. The Deck can be altered before the battle, from this screen.

After a battle, the winner can take one card from the opponent's trunk. After every ten battles, the player is awarded a certain card.

If this option is selected without a second game being connected, Tea Gardner appears and prevents the action.

Trade[edit]

Players can trade cards with other people who have a copy of the game, via the Game Link Cable.

From the trade screen, the player has three options, "chest", "check card" and "exchange card". The player must open the "chest" menu and select which cards they wish to trade. They can review the cards they have selected in the "check card" screen. The cards are traded when both players select "exchange card".

Communication Fusions can be conducted by trading certain cards.

If this option is selected without a second game being connected, Tea Gardner prevents the action.

Records[edit]

The records screen shows the player's name and communication battle statistics.

Obtaining cards[edit]

Initial Deck[edit]

The player starts the game with a 40-card Initial Deck which includes 33 Monster Cards, selected randomly from a pool of 100 monsters, as well as seven Magic Cards, which are always the same.[3]

All cards in the Initial Deck are also available as drops, except for #337: "Raigeki", which can only be obtained as a victory bonus. In addition to being drops, sixteen other cards are also available as victory bonuses, and #289: "Change Slime" is available as a communication bonus (but not as a victory bonus). Victory bonus cards are indicated in the following tables with a pink background and a dagger (†) after the card's name, except for #337: "Raigeki", which instead uses a red background and a double dagger (‡).

For display purposes, the list of monsters is split into groups of ten. This has no significance in-game, and is only done here for viewing convenience.

Monsters
# Card
005 Ryu-kishin
008 Mushroom Man
009 Shadow Specter
024 Skull Servant
029 Mountain Warrior
045 Oscillo Hero #2
048 Sangan
058 Kuriboh
075 Man-eating Plant
101 Wings of Wicked Fl
Monsters
# Card
102 Mask of Darkness
105 Tomozaurus
107 Kageningen
123 Dark Plant
129 Nemuriko
130 Weather Control
134 Mystical Capture C
139 B.eye Silv. Zombie
140 Toad Master
142 Flame Manipulator
Monsters
# Card
143 Chronolord
144 Wind Djinn
145 Phantom Thief
147 Monster Egg
148 Sinister Shadow
152 The Melting Red Sh
154 Fire Reaper
155 Larvas
157 Firegrass
158 Man Eater
Monsters
# Card
159 Dig Beak
160 M-warrior #1
161 M-warrior #2
167 Ancient Jar
173 Dark Prisoner
174 Hurricail
176 Fire Eye
177 Monsturtle
179 Phantom Dewan
180 Arlownay
Monsters
# Card
181 Dark Shade
182 Masked Clown
183 Lucky Trinket
184 Genin
185 Eyearmor
187 Gate Deeg
188 Synchar
189 Fusionist
190 Akakieisu
191 LaLa Li-oon
Monsters
# Card
192 Key Mace
193 Turtle Tiger
194 Terra the Terrible
195 Doron
196 Arma Knight
197 Mech Mole Zombie
198 Happy Lover
199 Penguin Knight
200 Petit Dragon
202 Air Marmot of Nefa
Monsters
# Card
203 Phantom Ghost
205 Dorover
206 Twin Long Rods#1
207 Droll Bird
208 Petit Angel
209 Winged Cleaver
210 Hinotama Soul
211 Kaminarikozou
212 Meotoko
214 B. Flame Kagemusha
Monsters
# Card
215 Flame Ghost
218 Two-mouth Darkrule
222 Midnight Fiend
226 Skull Stalker
227 Hitodenchak
228 Wood Remains
229 Hourglass of Life
232 Madjinn Gunn
237 Haniwa
238 Yashinoki
Monsters
# Card
239 Vishwar Randi
240 The Drdek
242 Candle of Destiny
243 Water Element
244 Dissolverock
245 Meda Bat
247 Root Water
253 Angelwitch
254 Embryonic Beast
261 Wicked Mirror
Monsters
# Card
268 Sectarian of Secre
271 Megirus Light
276 Ray & Temperature
279 King Fog
282 Mystical Sheep #2
285 Serpent Marauder
289 Change Slime
292 Psychic Kappa
298 Wicked Dragon with
300 Kurama
Magic Cards
# Card
337 Raigeki
338 Mooyan Curry
339 Red Medicine
343 Sparks ×2
344 Hinotama
350 Dark-piercing Ligh

Opponent drops[edit]

When an opponent is defeated, the player is given a card.

Each opponent has a different list of cards the player can get for beating them, with each card on the list having an assigned probability of randomly obtaining it. See Yugi Muto (Duel Monsters 1) § Drops for example.

Victory bonuses[edit]

The player wins a certain card from each opponent after every ten wins against that opponent, up to 100 wins.

Eighteen cards in the game are only available as victory bonuses; these are indicated in the below tables with a pink background and a superscript dagger (†) after the card's name. Specifically, the 100 victory bonus of every character is only available as a victory bonus, except for Mako Tsunami's 100 victory bonus, #337: "Raigeki", which the player's Initial Deck contains one copy of.

Fourteen victory bonuses are also available as communication bonuses, indicated with a yellow background and a superscript double dagger (‡). Sixteen victory bonuses are also available in the Initial Deck (though none of them are also communication bonuses), indicated with a green background and a superscript section sign (§). All of these, except for #337: "Raigeki", are also available as drops, as are all of the other victory bonuses which are otherwise available.

Yugi Muto
Wins # Card
10 314 Horn of the Unicor
20 350 Dark-piercing Ligh§
30 199 Penguin Knight§
40 161 M-warrior #2§
50 114 White Magical Hat
60 270 Wetha
70 118 Supporter in the S
80 276 Ray & Temperature§
90 039 Curse of Dragon
100 038 Gaia The Fierce Kn
Tristan Taylor
Wins # Card
10 310 Vile Germs
20 312 Silver Bow & Arrow
30 238 Yashinoki§
40 300 Kurama§
50 155 Larvas§
60 180 Arlownay§
70 257 Stone Armadiller
80 174 Hurricail§
90 252 Nekogal #1
100 018 L Leg of Forbidden
Joey Wheeler
Wins # Card
10 333 Sogen
20 301 Legendary Sword
30 064 Tiger Axe
40 043 Karbonala Warrior
50 078 Axe Raider
60 014 Battle Steer
70 012 Swamp Battleguard
80 068 Garoozis
90 016 Time Wizard
100 082 Red-eyes B. Dragon
Ryou Bakura
Wins # Card
10 335 Yami
20 236 Guardian of the La
30 338 Mooyan Curry§
40 294 Dragoness the Wick
50 339 Red Medicine§
60 259 Dimensional Knight
70 340 Goblin's Secret Re
80 225 Fiend Sword
90 341 Soul of the Pure
100 342 Dian Keto the Cure
Weevil Underwood
Wins # Card
10 330 Forest
20 050 Basic Insect
30 305 Lazer Cannon Armor
40 053 Killer Needle
50 306 Insect Armor with
60 054 Gokibore
70 049 Big Insect
80 055 Giant Flea
90 052 Hercules Beetle
100 278 Petit Moth
Mai Valentine
Wins # Card
10 332 Mountain
20 327 Follow Wind
30 062 Harpie Lady
40 318 Elegant Egotist
50 272 Mavelus
60 316 Electro-whip
70 117 Spirit of the Book
80 125 Faith Bird
90 317 Cyber Shield
100 063 Harpie Lady Sister
Rex Raptor
Wins # Card
10 331 Wasteland
20 326 Raise Body Heat
30 080 Uraby
40 081 Crawling Dragon #2
50 011 Sword Arm of Drago
60 080 Uraby
70 081 Crawling Dragon #2
80 011 Sword Arm of Drago
90 079 Megazowler
100 032 Two-headed King Re
Mako Tsunami
Wins # Card
10 334 Umi
20 328 Power of Kaishin
30 309 Steel Shell
40 070 Fiend Kraken
50 071 Jellyfish
60 073 Kairyu-shin
70 070 Fiend Kraken
80 071 Jellyfish
90 073 Kairyu-shin
100 337 Raigeki§
Seto Kaiba
Wins # Card
10 302 Sword of Ruin
20 321 Malevolent Nuzzler
30 005 Ryu-kishin§
40 077 Grappler
50 091 Mystic Horseman
60 023 The Wicked Worm B
70 026 Battle Ox
80 033 Judge Man
90 090 Gyakutenno Megami
100 001 B.eye White Dragon
Mokuba Kaiba
Wins # Card
10 336 Dark Hole
20 313 Horn of Light
30 324 Invigoration
40 075 Man-eating Plant§
50 102 Mask of Darkness§
60 076 Krokodilus
70 051 Armored Lizard
80 066 Kojikocy
90 234 Beautiful Headhunt
100 017 R Leg of Forbidden
Puppeteer of Doom
Wins # Card
10 320 Stop Defense
20 119 Trial of Nightmare
30 233 Dark Titan of Terr
40 163 Lisark
50 165 The Judgement Hand
60 297 Cyber Soldier of D
70 136 Witty Phantom
80 275 Terra Bugroth
90 286 Gatekeeper
100 019 R Arm of Forbidden
PaniK
Wins # Card
10 335 Yami
20 303 Dark Energy
30 083 Castle of D. Magic
40 088 Metal Guardian
50 086 Barox
60 084 Reaper of the Card
70 281 Mystic Clown
80 087 Dark Chimera
90 127 Ansatsu
100 085 King of Yamimakai
Bandit Keith
Wins # Card
10 325 Machine Conversion
20 322 Violet Crystal
30 098 Clown Zombie
40 036 The Snake Hair
50 093 Zanki
60 286 Gatekeeper
70 094 Crawling Dragon
80 124 Ancient Tool
90 099 Pumpking the King
100 020 L Arm of Forbidden
Simon Muran
Wins # Card
10 323 Book of Secret Art
20 311 Black Pendant
30 304 Axe of Despair
40 307 Elf's Light
50 308 Beast Fangs
60 213 Aqua Madoor
70 145 Phantom Thief§
80 106 Spirit of the Wind
90 022 Summoned Skull
100 042 Faceless Mage
Maximillion Pegasus
Wins # Card
10 284 Tao the Chanter
20 241 Dark Assailant
30 040 Dragon Piper
40 287 Ogre of the Black
50 045 Oscillo Hero #2§
60 329 Dragon Capture Jar
70 291 Fireyarou
80 149 Lord of the Lamp
90 044 Rogue Doll
100 315 Dragon Treasure
Yami Yugi
Wins # Card
10 006 Feral Imp
20 007 Winged Dragon #1
30 041 Celtic Guardian
40 319 Mystical Moon
50 010 Blackland Fire Dra
60 348 Swords of Revealin
70 031 Koumori Dragon
80 060 Great White
90 345 Final Flame
100 021 Exod. of Forbidden

Communication bonuses[edit]

The player receives a certain card after every ten battles against different human opponents via the Game Link Cable, up to 200 unique opponents. While fifteen of these cards are also available as drops and victory bonuses, five of them can only be obtained as communication bonuses; these are indicated in the below table with a pink background and a superscript dagger (†) after the card's name.

The card #347: "Tremendous Fire" was notoriously powerful in this game, with the ability to instantly inflict 5000 damage. It is also considered one of the most difficult cards to unlock, requiring to battle 200 different opponents.

Because no official method of erasing a saved game was ever published, players could not easily keep resetting a second copy of the game to face more unique opponents. However, there is a secret method to erase the saved game coded into the game. To achieve this, players can press the following buttons at the title screen: , , B, , , , , , , , B + . Other non-standard methods of erasing the save file involve directly tampering with the cartridge, which risks damaging it or the console used to play it.

Opponents # Card
10 289 Change Slime
20 015 Flame Swordsman
30 026 Battle Ox
40 329 Dragon Capture Jar
50 004 Baby Dragon
60 051 Armored Lizard
70 340 Goblin's Secret Re
80 316 Electro-whip
90 011 Sword Arm of Drago
100 349 Spellbinding Circl
110 016 Time Wizard
120 090 Gyakutenno Megami
130 066 Kojikocy
140 052 Hercules Beetle
150 346 Ookazi
160 317 Cyber Shield
170 079 Megazowler
180 073 Kairyu-shin
190 022 Summoned Skull
200 347 Tremendous Fire

Trading[edit]

Cards can be traded from other games using the Game Link Cable.

Duel Monsters can connect with other copies of Duel Monsters. Duel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories, Duel Monsters III: Tri-Holy God Advent (the Japanese edition of Dark Duel Stories), and Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelist can connect to copies of Duel Monsters.

Communication Fusion[edit]

Communication Fusions can be performed by connecting to a second copy of Duel Monsters or to a copy of Duel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories, using the Game Link Cable. This requires the two Fusion Materials and #289: "Change Slime". "Change Slime" has a chance of being included in the Initial Deck; after that, it can only be obtained with a chance of 1/2048 per Duel against certain opponents, or as the first communication bonus after battling against ten different opponents over the Game Link Cable.

Eight different cards are available as Communication Fusions, and none of them can be obtained by any other method in-game, though all of them can be traded back from later games.

#067 "Perfectly Ultimate" requires a total of eight Communication Fusions to obtain, each of which requires a copy of "Change Slime"; it also requires three copies of #278: "Petit Moth", which is only available as Weevil Underwood's 100 victory bonus. Because of this, it is considered to be an extremely difficult card to obtain.

Fusion Monster Material 1 Material 2
037 Gaia the Dragon Ch 038 Gaia The Fierce Kn 039 Curse of Dragon
069 Thousand Dragon 004 Baby Dragon 016 Time Wizard
092 Rabid Horseman 026 Battle Ox 091 Mystic Horseman
056 Larvae Moth 278 Petit Moth 123 Dark Plant
157 Firegrass
274 Green Phantom King
273 Ancient Tree of En
008 Mushroom Man
075 Man-eating Plant
158 Man Eater
238 Yashinoki
180 Arlownay
072 Cocoon of Evolutio 056 Larvae Moth 123 Dark Plant
157 Firegrass
274 Green Phantom King
273 Ancient Tree of En
008 Mushroom Man
075 Man-eating Plant
158 Man Eater
238 Yashinoki
180 Arlownay
057 Great Moth 072 Cocoon of Evolutio 072 Cocoon of Evolutio
067 Perfectly Ultimate 057 Great Moth 072 Cocoon of Evolutio
217 B. Skull Dragon 022 Summoned Skull 082 Red-eyes B. Dragon

Ante[edit]

After a communication battle, the winner must take one card from their opponent's trunk.

Passwords[edit]

Nine of the fifteen secret cards in Duel Monsters can be unlocked via passwords. These passwords use kana, rather than numbers or letters. Each password is the name of a staff member who worked on the game, or who worked on the manga series at Shueisha at the time. Many later video games instead use passwords which consist of eight digits, found on cards released in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game, which did not premiere until after this game was released.

To access the password entry, the following button sequence must be entered on the main menu: , , B, , , +B, B. This requires frame-perfect input to succeed; if the game is being played on an emulator, the password entry can also be accessed by changing RAM address $DFDE to 0x06 and pressing B. Alternatively, the Game Genie code 06F-DE2-F7E can be used, which removes the requirement for frame-perfect button entry and reduces the button sequence to , , B, , , B.

After successfully entering the button sequence, Yami Yugi appears and introduces the password mode, and then the player can enter a password. The screens used for password entry are the hiragana and katakana entry screens used to enter the player's name at the start of the game. Once a password is entered, Yami Yugi appears again and tells the player whether the entered password is correct, incorrect, or has already been used, and the game returns to the main menu.

The Passwords and instructions on how to access the Password menu were published in various supplementary material, including:

# Card Password Rōmaji Individual Sources
351 Yaranzo ヘイシヨシヒサ heishiyoshihisa Yoshihisa Heishi, long-time editor for Weekly Shōnen Jump Top Secret Card
VJ 1999 #4
DM2 Strategy V2
352 Kanan the Swordmis ハシモトカナコ hashimotokanako Kanako Hashimoto, director of graphics for Duel Monsters Top Secret Card
353 Takriminos チダタクリ chidatakuri Takuri Chida, programmer for Duel Monsters Top Secret Card
VJ 1999 #4
DM2 Strategy V2
354 Stuffed Animal キタウエカズミ kitauekazumi Kazumi Kitaue, executive producer for Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK
VJ 1999 #2
DM2 Strategy V2
355 Megasonic Eye シモムラサトシ shimomurasatoshi Satoshi Shimomura, producer for Duel Monsters
358 Seiyaryu トリシマカズヒコ torishimakazuhiko Kazuhiko Torishima, editor-in-chief for Weekly Shōnen Jump VJ 1999 #4
DM2 Strategy V2
359 Three-legged Zombi タカハシトシマサ takahashitoshimasa Toshimasa Takahashi, editor for Weekly Shōnen Jump Top Secret Card
VJ 1999 #2
DM2 Strategy V2
361 Flying Penguin ヤマダノブヒロ yamadanobuhiro Nobuhiro Yamada, director of game design for Duel Monsters WSJ 1999 #9
VJ 1999 #2
DM2 Strategy V2
363 Fairy's Gift タカハシカズキ takahashikazuki Kazuki Takahashi, creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! and original monster design in Duel Monsters WSJ 1999 #9
VJ 1999 #2
DM2 Strategy V2

Prizes[edit]

The prize cards

Eight of the fifteen secret cards were awarded at the Duel Monsters National Tournament on February 21, 1999. Physical copies of the top four cards were also awarded.

While two of the qualifying cards can also be unlocked with a password, and the four qualifying cards can be obtained by trading from Duel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories, the Top 4 cards cannot be obtained legitimately by any other means.

Position # Card Physical card
Qualifying 352 Kanan the Swordmis
362 Millennium Shield
355 Megasonic Eye
357 Yamadron
Top 4 365 Fiend's Mirror Fiend's Mirror
Top 3 356 Super War-lion Super War-lion
Top 2 360 Zera The Mant Zera The Mant
Winner 364 Black Luster Soldi Black Luster Soldi

Temporarily obtaining cards[edit]

Fusion Summon[edit]

The Extra Deck does not exist in this game. Instead, Fusion Summons are performed during Duels by trying to Summon a monster from the hand on top of a monster on the field. The game features 2,159 fusions, resulting in 52 different monsters; often the same monster can be Summoned using a variety of Fusion Material, though eight of the monsters have only a single possible fusion.

All but one of the fusions in Duel Monsters use only monsters as material. The exception is #063: "Harpie Lady Sister", which is fused by equipping #062: "Harpie Lady" with #318: "Elegant Egotist". In the ROM, this fusion is handled as an effect, and is not stored with the monster-only fusions.

While the player does not receive a permanent copy of a monster Summoned by fusion, if a fused monster was not previously encountered, an entry for it is added.

Evolution[edit]

#278 "Petit Moth" and its stages evolve into other cards after being on the field for one turn, in the order shown below. Permanent copies of the evolutions are not added to the player's trunk, though if the player has not previously encountered one of the evolutions, an entry for it is added, similar to fused monsters.

#278 "Petit Moth" → #056: "Larvae Moth" → #072: "Cocoon of Evolutio" → #057: "Great Moth" → #067: "Perfectly Ultimate"

Only one copy of "Petit Moth" can be acquired per game, by defeating Weevil Underwood one hundred times (it can also be traded back from later games). Permanent copies of its evolutions can only be acquired by Communication Fusion.

Having only 300 ATK and 200 DEF, and with AI opponents attacking when they have a stronger monster, it is usually difficult to keep "Petit Moth" on the field for a turn; there are only thirteen monsters in the game with a base ATK of 300 or less. "Petit Moth" can be protected in a few different ways:

  • Tristan Taylor does not have any monsters with more than 300 ATK and does not go out of his way to fuse cards, so will not attack an Attack Position "Petit Moth".
  • "Petit Moth" is strengthened by all Field Magic Cards in the game. By default, this would only increase its stats to 390 ATK and 260 DEF, which would not be enough to protect it from any additional monsters (the base ATK values featured in the game jump directly from 200 to 300, and from 300 to 400). However, "Petit Moth" is a special case: instead of its stats being increased by 30%, they are increased to 750 ATK and 450 DEF, except for when #330: "Forest" is active, which instead increases its stats to 975 ATK and 585 DEF. These boosts are enough to protect it against dozens of additional monsters (over a hundred in the case of "Forest").
  • #349: "Spellbinding Circl" reduces the targeted monster's level by 1; using it on a monster with a level of 0 reduces its level to -1, which reduces its ATK and DEF to 60% of their original values. This would require a separate copy of "Spellbinding Circl" for each of the opponent's monsters, as well as an extra turn for each monster to be debuffed. This would protect "Petit Moth" against any monsters with up to 500 ATK, and could be used in conjunction with a Field Magic Card increasing the ATK of "Petit Moth", to protect against additional monsters.
  • #348: "Swords of Revealin" prevents the opponent from attacking for three turns.

The game's code allows certain Equip Cards to be used on "Petit Moth". However, since only a single card can be played per turn, and because "Petit Moth" is evolved into "Larvae Moth" as soon as its controller's next turn starts, it is not actually possible to equip any cards to "Petit Moth" before it evolves.

Rules[edit]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters predates the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game and features its own rules for Duel Monsters, most of which are based on the manga Duel Monsters rules.

Deck construction[edit]

  • A player's Deck must contain exactly 40 cards.
    • This is a hard cap: even when editing the Deck, only up to 40 cards can be used. Because of this, to change cards requires that a card first be removed from the Deck, before the new card can be added.
  • A Deck can have up to 40 copies of the same card.

Duels[edit]

Setup[edit]

  • Each player starts with 8000 LP and five cards in their hand.
  • In campaign, the human player always goes first.

Playing cards[edit]

  • Except for the first turn, the player draws one card at the beginning of their turn.
  • A player may play one card per turn.
  • A player can Summon a monster into one of the five available zones or activate a Magic Card.
  • If a player attempts to Summon a monster into a zone occupied by another monster, the game will attempt to fuse the monsters. If the Fusion is valid, a new monster will be Summoned into the zone. If the Fusion is invalid, the second monster will replace the first.

Modifying ATK/DEF[edit]

#067: "Perfectly Ultimate" with an ATK of 1648, rather than 11648, due to the overflow glitch
  • Certain Magic Cards will modify the ATK and DEF of a chosen monster by boosting or reducing its level: Equip Magic Cards will boost the monster's level by 1 each, to a maximum of 2 levels, while #349: "Spellbinding Circl" will reduce its level by 1. Each level increases a monster's ATK and DEF by 60%; #303: "Dark Energy" is the only card that specifies this increase.
    • "Spellbinding Circl" can reduce a monster's level to -1. In this case, its ATK and DEF are reduced to 60% of their original values; for example, #207: "Droll Bird", with original ATK and DEF of 600 and 500, has its ATK and DEF become 360 and 300.
    • Every monster is a valid target for at least one Equip Card. Nineteen monsters are valid targets for only one Equip Card.
  • Field Magic Cards affect all monsters on the field of specified Types. A Field Card may either increase a monster's ATK and DEF by 30%, decrease them by 30%, or have no effect. There can only be one Field Card active at a time; if a Field Card is active, any further Field Cards attempted to be played will be destroyed. This increase/decrease does not count towards the number of levels.
    • There are several monsters which are affected, or unaffected, by certain Field Cards contrary to their Type, as well as several which receive additional boosts over the normal 30% or are otherwise modified:
      • #278: "Petit Moth", whose stats are changed from 300 ATK and 200 DEF to 750 ATK and 450 DEF, before gaining its 30% or 0% boost: it has 975 ATK and 585 DEF in #330: "Forest" and 750 ATK and 450 DEF in any other field, excluding the default field.
      • PaniK's monsters, whose stats are rounded to the nearest 100 after gaining their 30% boost.
      • #074: "Giant Rock Soldier", which is affected by #332: "Mountain", contrary to its Type.
      • #027: "Beaver Warrior" and #047: "Torike", which are not affected by "Forest", contrary to their Type.
      • There are no Field Cards which affect "Torike" or any Reptile monsters.
      • Fairy monsters (under #335: "Yami") and Machine and Pyro monsters (under #334: "Umi") only receive negative effects from Field Cards. These are the only monsters to receive negative effects.
      • Several monsters have 0 ATK or DEF; these values are unchanged by a Field Card even if it does affect the non-zero value.
    • Because of how they are implemented (as a set of hardcoded values), boosts from Field Cards are applied before level boosts, though this has no in-game effect.
  • Due to a glitch, ATK and DEF values of over 9999 do not work correctly; the 10,000's digit is ignored. For example, #067: "Perfectly Ultimate", which has an original ATK of 3500, would have a boosted ATK of 11648 when boosted by a Field Card and two levels, but this glitch makes its functional ATK only 1648. This glitch can only affect the ATK values of "Perfectly Ultimate" and #217: "B. Skull Dragon", as no other original ATK and DEF values in the game are over 3000; a value of 3000 becomes 9984 after being boosted by a Field Card and two levels.

Battling[edit]

Battle screen showing #048: "Sangan" attacking #167: "Ancient Jar"
  • Each turn, the player must decide if each of their monsters is going to attack or defend.
    • If "attack" is selected, the monster is put in Attack Position and must attack a monster on the opponent's side of the field. If there are none, it will attack the opponent directly. A monster cannot be left in Attack Position at the end of a turn, without declaring an attack, unless it is the first turn or another card is preventing it from attacking.
      • When a monster attacks a player directly, the monster's ATK is deducted from the LP of the attacked player.
      • When a monster attacks an Attack Position monster, the monster with lower ATK is destroyed and the difference is deducted from the LP of the controller of the destroyed monster. If both monsters have the same ATK, they are both destroyed.
      • When a monster attacks a Defense Position monster, if the attacking monster's ATK is higher than the defending monster's DEF, the defending monster is destroyed. If the attacking monster's ATK is equal to or lower than the DEF of the defending monster, the difference is deducted from the LP of the controller of the attacking monster, and neither monster is destroyed.
    • If "defend" is selected, the monster is put in Defense Position.
  • The turn ends after the player has chosen an action for all of their monsters.

Winning[edit]

  • When a player's LP are reduced to 0, the other player is the winner.
  • If a player's hand is empty, the Duelist with the higher LP wins
  • If a player has all five "Exodia" pieces in their hand, they win.

Development[edit]

Announcements[edit]

In Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #26, released on May 25, production of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was announced. The announcement featured screenshots of the game including the main menu, a Duel in progress, and the Puppeteer of Doom in the campaign mode. All three screens were changed significantly by the time the game was released. The feature also showed the in-game artworks of "B.eye White Dragon" and "Hitotsu-me Giant", and contained an invitation for people to submit designs for monsters to be included in Duel Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle, which was being developed alongside it. The deadline for submissions was June 25, 1998. Applicants were asked to put their monster's name and picture on a postcard, and optionally its powers and stats, along with their name, address, phone number and age, and send the postcard to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Koku address. Copyright of the winning entries was to be taken over by the organizers.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #28, released on June 8, contained the in-game artworks and some information on "Ryu-kishin" and "Feral Imp".

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #36, released on August 3, mentioned that players could play against and trade with friends using the Game Link Cable or play against characters appearing in the manga. It contained a screenshot of Weevil Underwood in campaign mode. The issue showcased four of the winners of the monster-design contest from issue #26; "Claw Reacher", "Hard Armor", "Turtle Tiger", and "Beast of Forest Destruction". However, "Beast of Forest Destruction" was not included in the final version of the game.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #40, released on August 31, announced that the game would contain 350 cards. It contained artworks for a number of cards and showed a screenshot of Mai Valentine in campaign mode, using Super Gameboy colors.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #42, released on September 14, announced that trial versions of the game would be playable at six stores in Japan on the weekend of September 26 and 27, 1998 and gave the address and phone number of each venue. It explained that attendees who answered a questionnaire would be presented with a "Seiyaryu" promotional card, "Seiyaryu" being a card Kazuki Takahashi designed for the game.

V Jump 1998 #11, released on September 21, contained a screenshot of a Duel in progress and an explanation of everything that was visible on screen and the rules for monster battles. It showcased four winning entrants from the monster-design contest; "Dark Shade", "Twin Long Rods #1", "Genin", "Doron", and "Larvas".

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #45, released on October 5, announced that the game would be released in December 1998. It contained a newer version of the main menu, different than the final version, but more closely resembling it than the one featured in the 1998 #26 issue. It also contained screenshots of the Deck edit screen, the Stage 1 opponents and the Stage 2 main screen. All screenshots used Super Gameboy colors.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #47, released on October 19, contained the precise release date of the game; December 17, 1998. It announced that a national tournament would take place, the winners of which would receive in-game cards and metallic real-world versions of the cards. It showed "Zera the Mant" and "Black Luster Soldier" in the style of the "collector's cards" that existed before the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game. The issue contained information on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters bundled promotional cards and the game's Initial Deck.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #48, released on October 26, contained information about the national tournament, including its schedule; qualifying rounds in mid-January 1999, second round of qualifiers in late January to early February, and finals in mid February. The first qualifying round took place at approximately 100 stores throughout Japan, with a rare card and qualification for the next second round awarded to winners. The second qualifying round was to take place at twelve locations, with a rare card and qualification for the finals awarded to winners. The final was to take place at Tokyo between 16 regional winners, with "Fiend's Mirror" awarded to the top four, "Super War-lion" to the top three, "Zera The Mant" to the top two and "Black Luster Soldi" and the ten Duel Monsters bundled promotional cards awarded to the winner.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #50, released November 9, published information on the first two stages of the game's campaign mode. It also included details of the trials that had been announced in the 1998 #42 issue. 2000 people attended; 600 got to play while the others were allowed to watch on a screen.

Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #52, released November 21, contained information on a visit Kazuki Takahashi made to the building where the game was developed.

Prototypes[edit]

An earlier version of the game featured a different graphic for the main menu. It did not include the copyright text, had a different font for the text Duel Monsters (デュエルモンスターズ), a different picture of Yami Yugi, and different text for the menu options:[4][5]

  • VS CPU (対 CPU Tai Shī Pī Yū) instead of "Campaign" (キャンペーン Kyanpēn)
  • VS MAN (対 MAN Tai Man) instead of "Versus" (たいせん Taisen)
  • Trade (こうかん Kōkan) instead of "Trade" (トレード Torēdo)
  • Collection (コレクション Korekushon) instead of "Records" (せいせき Seiseki)

An earlier version of the Puppeteer of Doom featured the Kaiba puppet more prominently with only a silhouette of the Puppeteer visible behind it.[4]

Card-design contest[edit]

Fans were able to submit ideas for cards to be included in the game. Four of the winners were published in the 1998 #36 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (WSJ). Another five were published in the 1998 #11 issue of V Jump (VJ). However one of the nine, "Beast of Forest Destruction" was not included in the final version of the game.

# Card Designer Original artwork Game artwork Winner announced
155 "Larvas" Atsushi Nakao (中尾篤志) Larvas - card design contest.png Larvas-DM1-JP-VG.png VJ 1998 #11
156 "Hard Armor" Kiichi Hayashi (林 貴一) Hard Armor - card design contest.png HardArmor-DM1-JP-VG.png WSJ 1998 #36
178 "Claw Reacher" Hidekazu Ozaki (尾崎秀和) Claw Reacher - card design contest.png ClawReacher-DM1-JP-VG.png WSJ 1998 #36
181 "Dark Shade" Junko Kubo (久保淳子) Dark Shade - card design contest.png DarkShade-DM1-JP-VG.png VJ 1998 #11
184 "Genin" Manabu Iwasaka (岩坂学) Genin - card design contest.png Genin-DM1-JP-VG.png VJ 1998 #11
193 "Turtle Tiger" Masahiro Yamamoto (山本将弘) Turtle Tiger - card design contest.png TurtleTiger-DM1-JP-VG.png WSJ 1998 #36
195 "Doron" Takeshi Fujii (藤井武志) Doron - card design contest.png Doron-DM1-JP-VG.png VJ 1998 #11
206 "Twin Long Rods #1" Yasushi Ibusuki (指宿泰志) Twin Long Rods 1 - card design contest.png TwinLongRods1-DM1-JP-VG.png VJ 1998 #11
n/a "Beast of Forest Destruction" Kentaro Miyamoto (宮本健太朗) Beast of Forest Destruction - card design contest.png BeastofForestDestruction-DM1-JP-VG-CA.png WSJ 1998 #36

Glitches[edit]

Promotional cards[edit]

Each copy of Duel Monsters came with three collector's cards, randomly selected from the following ten:[1]

Another collector's card, "Seiyaryu", was given out at trial session for this game. Five copies of that card were also used as prizes in an Akamaru Jump raffle.

Game guides[edit]

Two game guides for Duel Monsters were published in Japan by Shueisha: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK, published on December 21, 1998,[6][7] and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK Volume 2, published in January 1999.[8] Neither guide included any bundled promotional cards.

Manga scenes used[edit]

The following scenes from the manga were used to create graphics for this game.

Stage 1: Ship (Duel 64)
Stage 1 opponents' backdrop: Common room (Duel 64)

Gallery[edit]

Reception[edit]

Duel Monsters sold 1.6 million copies,[9] making it the 34th-best-selling Game Boy/Game Boy Color title of all time.

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. a b c https://web.archive.org/web/20180826214725/http://www.konami.jp/products/yugioh_dm1_gb//
  2. a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK (in Japanese). Shueisha. December 21, 1998. p. 25. ISBN 4-08-779009-6.
  3. https://datacrystal.tcrf.net/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Duel_Monsters:ROM_map#Starter_Deck_-_Random_card_pool
  4. a b Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #26, released May 25, 1998
  5. V Jump 1998 #10, released August 1998
  6. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK (in Japanese). Shueisha. December 21, 1998. Back cover. ISBN 4-08-779009-6.
  7. "遊☆戯☆王デュエルモンスターズパーフェクトマスターBOOK (上巻) (Vジャンプブックス―ゲームシリーズ) [単行本]" [Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK (Volume 1) (V Jump Books - Game Series) [Paperback]] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  8. "遊☆戯☆王デュエルモンスターズパーフェクトマスターBOOK (下巻) (Vジャンプブックス―ゲームシリーズ) [単行本]" [Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Perfect Master BOOK (Volume 2) (V Jump Books - Game Series) [Paperback]] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  9. "Japan Platinum Game Chart". The Magic Box. Retrieved April 25, 2017.